Looking back: 2013.

Why yes, I am still alive! I feel like I should explain myself or something, so here goes.. I've been working on a huge-ass project for uni since November and I've finally completely finished it. Yesterday I went to an exam about that project and I must brag a bit and say that I nailed it.

But here I am, back in the game and ready to blog my ass off. No excuses this time for why I have been gone, just haven't been creative whatso-freaking-ever. Yep.

So this post is gonna be about lovely highlights from 2013. Yes, it's been 2014 for 10 days, but hey, it's still acceptable to do these. At least I think so. Of course 2013 hasn't been all amazing and awesome all the way through. I've lost a few friends, struggled with economy a whole lot, especially the last 6 months of the year and stuff like that. But everything turned out great and looking back at the entire year I realise it has been a big mouthful, but a lovely moutful all in all.

The first highlight from 2013 is when I went to see Asking Alexandria for the first time. It was an amazing experience, their live show was awesome as fuck and yes, I cried. For the first time ever at a show, so that was a milestone in itself. Usually I don't understand why people cry at shows and nope, I don't understand why I have done it four times now either.

In March 2013 I started working in a kindergarten as an intern and I was there for two months, which was actually a month longer than planned. It was a job that definitely changed me as a person. To work with kids you have to be really patient. People who know me knows very well that I am really not a patient person, so that was something I had to learn very quickly. Also I had to quit all my swearing for at least when I was around the kids, even though they knew all the swearwords in the world anyway, even in English. And I do swear a lot normally. So that was tough as well. I fell ill 4 times in those 2 months I was there, which was odd to me since I am usually never ill. I loved working there and the kids were all so lovely. I miss it quite a lot and I am grateful that I learned some valuable life lessons by working there. Thanks to them for having me!

Then in May 2013, from Thursday the 16th to Sunday the 19th I took a quick trip to England. Why? Well, to see my newly discovered favourite band Pierce The Veil live in London and Bristol. It was a weekend where I got too little sleep, lost my voice singing the lyrics that I love, made new friends, saw my favourite band live twice, went back to my favourite city in the world, saw one of my old mates again, met my favourite band members and just had a great time in general. I slept in an airport for the first time as well and that was horrible. It was cold and I got about an hour of sleep all in all. Thank God for Costa! But it was so fucking worth it and I would do it again a thousand times if it meant I got the chance to see Pierce The Veil again.

Another great concert of 2013 was 30 Seconds To Mars who I saw on the 21st of June. I have been a fan of the band for a really long time, I don't actually remember how long. Last time they played in Denmark was on my mum's birthday so I didn't get to see them, sadly enough. But this time I went, it was outdoors and it was cheap, which was great. The concert was just so amazing, even though the crowd was huge I think that Jared managed to connect with all of the people there in such a good way. He pulled up people on stage, waved around a Danish flag, made jokes and made us yell stuff. It felt great connecting like that, honestly.

Credit to: Mia Malene.

So of course I had to go to Bristol again as soon as I had the chance. And I did get the chance to go back in July. I went there for two weeks and it was absolutely amazing. Being back there just felt great, it felt right. It almost felt like I'd never been gone. Now I've experienced the city both during autumn, winter, spring and summer, and I can still say that it is definitely the place I want to live, at least for a few years. It feels like there is some sort of unity in the city and I love being there so much. I miss it quite a lot and knowing I won't go back for a while makes me sad. Bristol is my favourite city of all the ones that I've been to.

In August I experienced what a real, professional photoshoot feels like, even though it was only for a few minutes. I decided to stand up for a good cause with two of my lovely friends, Marie and Mia Malene, and we went to get our pictures taken for the NOH8 campaign. It was a fun experience and I'm glad I shared it with those two people because I know that it's equally important to them to support a good cause. It was a birthday present from Marie, since I didn't have the money to do it myself, and I'm really thankful for that. A present that does not only benefit me by giving me a fun experience, but also benefits someone else. What more could I ask for?

Then came the biggest change that has happened in my life for many years: I got accepted into university. But not just any university: Aalborg University. Which is in a city that is about 4-500km from Copenhagen where all my friends and family are and where I grew up and spend all my life living. That was quite scary knowing that I had to move so far away from everything I knew. But I had on purpose applied for all four major universities in the country to increase the chances of me getting accepted, so I had kind of seen it coming. When the time came I had to live in some sort of a hostel for two weeks because I didn't have any flat by the time I had to move. But my college friend saved me and hooked me up with his brother who is now my roommate in a flat right in the centre of the city, where I really enjoy living. And luckily he didn't turn out to be a horrible murderer or rapist, so that's cool. I can only say that I do not regret moving so far away at all. It has been wonderful so far, I've made some really great friends and I've already had a lot of really amazing experiences. I can't wait to see what the future holds for me while I'm in this city attending this univeristy; I'm sure it's gonna be some lovely stuff!

Last but not at all least, I got to see Pierce The Veil live again in Malmö, Sweden. I was super excited about it because it was as close to Denmark as it could be without them actually giving a show here (which they btw should do when they finish their new album) and because, well, favourite band, duh. I'd already experienced them before so I knew they are the best band I've ever seen live, and it pleased me a lot that this time was also going to be in a small venue, one of their more intimate shows. And it definitely was. I had moments with all of the members of the band, didn't get a single autograph or picture, but got to speak to some of them anyway, which was great. I seriously can't wait for them to finish their new album (that'll hopefully happen around summer this year!) and come back to tour in Europe, hopefully as headliner. 

Credit to: Nibby Photography.

I am really looking forward to 2014 and I can't wait to see what it'll bring. More concerts are already planned, more trips to different places in the world, more life experiences. All the great stuff is out there, in the future, just waiting for people to seize the moment and grab the opportunity to experience it. What are we waiting for?!

Here's to 2014! xoxo

04.12.13: Pierce The Veil.

Wednesday I got up before the sun did and left my mum's to meet up with my friend Sofie at Copenhagen Central Station. We caught a train to Malmö, Sweden and found Kulturbolaget around half 10.

Why? Well, we were going to see Pierce The Veil. And we planned to sit outside in line all day. Yep, it was cold as fuck, but it was definitely worth it! It was the third time for me seeing PTV and they were just as amazing as the first two times. Even though I sometimes like to see bands live in huge venues, I have to admit I like the intimate shows at small venues better. There's just this thing about them - it's like every kid is connected and the band has so much more energy.

As we got there, we quickly found some other Danes who we spent the entire day with. New friends you meet at concerts always turn out to be the friends you keep for the longest, that's at least what I've experienced.

We were let inside around 7pm and two of us hurried to the barrier whilst the other two were handing in our stuff to the cloak room. Of course we all stood right by the barrier, we wouldn't accept anything less after waiting for so many hours in the cold! 

The first band up was Sights & Sounds and they were quite alright. One of them celebrated his birthday the day before and another dude did that day. So someone randomly started to sing "happy birthday" and the rest of the room followed. Right until we had to mention his name. As no one knew it, the song just faded after "happy birthday, dear..." and they started laughing. It was kind of embarrassing.
To be honest their sound wasn't too good, but the music was alright.

After Pierce The Veil came on. They just came running onto stage and I grabbed Sofie's arm to squeeze it because I wasn't even prepared. I couldn't keep the smile off my lips during the entire show and I was singing my lungs out - and I'm currently paying for it, my voice is fucked.

We had some moments with Tony where we pointed at each other and sang to each other. Even Jaime was lip-synching to us when he saw that we were kind of sobbing during Hold On Till May. He pointed at us with his bass and just came really close. That was really embarrasing. Sofie caught a pick from Jaime and one from Tony, lucky girl!

When it was time for Bring Me The Horizon to enter stage, Sofie and I left. None of us like BMTH and we wanted to give our good spots to someone who would actually enjoy the show. To be honest it wasn't really good. They didn't have any connection with the audience whatsoever and Oli barely talked to them. I would admit that the show was good if it was, but it honestly wasn't anything special.

After the show had ended we waited outside to see if we could catch a glimpse of PTV. They all came out, but it was only Vic who gave autographs and took pictures with people, but he didn't look like he really wanted to, so we left him alone. They all quickly left again for some bar, except Tony, who stayed on the bus to drink Coronas with Matt.
Since Sofie's train didn't leave from the Central Station of Copenhagen until like 5am, we all decided to stay for a bit. It was much colder in Denmark and it was either waiting there or in Malmö. We were just hanging around, talking about stuff.

Vic, Jaime and Mike came back around 2am and Vic asked us what we were still doing there. We realised it was kind of creepy, but he seemed genuinely concerned when he heard that we had to wait for the train. So he made sure we were okay before they went into the bus.

We were dancing around to keep ourselves warm and at some point we found out that their driver was filming us with his phone, which was really funny. So we just kept on dancing until they drove away. Jaime was sitting next to the driver and he waved at us and made a heart with his hands when he saw us.

All in all it was a great day and night, and it was definitely worth it to stay out in the cold for 16 hours or so. It'll probably be a long while before I see them again, but at least I have some good memories to remember. Even though I didn't bring my camera, since I couldn't find it at all.

Credit for all pictures goes to: Nibby Photography.

Punk Goes Pop.

Having a wide music taste means I like everything from pop to heavy metal, but one thing that makes me insanely happy is when bands/artists do covers of each other's songs across genres. 

That is why I really love the Punk Goes Pop albums. They're amazing! More rock-ish/alternative/whatever-they're-just-not-pop bands doing covers of pop and RnB songs is literally the best. A lot of those songs are catchy enough as they are in their true form, but some of them are even better when covered and made more rock-ish or whatever.
There's even recently been released an album called Punk Goes Christmas! It's amazing.

The only problem I have with Punk Goes Pop is that they chose to call it punk. Where did that come from? None of the bands that are covering songs are the least bit punk. But maybe it was just to come up with some catchy title instead of "Alternative Emo Goes Pop" or something.

My favourite Punk Goes Pop album is number 4. There's no particular reason for that except of course the fact that I just like it. On that album there's Pierce The Veil and Sleeping With Sirens covering songs and they're doing an excellent job. And I just like most of the songs that are being covered.

Here's Pierce The Veil's cover of Bruno Mars' Just The Way You Are - enjoy!

One month.

So as you may or may not have noticed, I love going to concerts. I attend as many as possible, with both really big names and small, local bands in where I have a few friends.
But as I'm now living 4-5 hours away from Copenhagen, the capital of my country, it's hard for me to attend concerts, seeing as I have to pay around £40-£50 every time I want to go to a concert - and that's just for the train ticket. Top that prize with the ticket for the concert and food and probably a few beers, and even more than a few, if I go out with friends after the show.

So I haven't been at a concert since August, which is really sad. I've already missed two concerts I wanted to go to and it annoys me. But the next concert I'm going to will be in exactly one month. I'm going to see Pierce The Veil as they support Bring Me The Horizon on their ongoing UK/Europe tour in Malmö, Sweden on the 4th of December. For some odd reason they're not coming to Denmark on this tour. 

But I absolutely can't wait, even though PTV are just the support band. It will be the third time I see them in less than a year and I've only been a fan for a year at the time. I think that's pretty well done seeing as they're from the States and they have never played a concert in Denmark. That's what I call dedication. Especially because I've never travelled to another country just to see a concert or two before I did so back in May.

Sorry for the weird "filler" blog post, but I just figured I had to get it out somewhere and I wanted to share my excitement. It'll seriously be so amazing to see them again!

Rumour has it that they will be playing this one - it's one of my favourites!

Pierce The Veil: autographs.

This is something I haven't told you about. The venue in Bristol where Pierce The Veil played, The Fleece, had a competition where you could win signed posters. All you had to do was send them funny tweets, and they'd pick out a few winners, who got posters. 

Cille won a poster, because she tweeted them something funny, and I walked up with her to the back door to get it. The man who controlled the venue's Twitter came out and asked if we were really from Denmark (we tweeted that, because we were the only foreigners that night), and when we said yes, he walked back inside to get me a poster as well! So basically I only got one because I was awesome and Danish, and not 'cause I was funny (even though I am, haha!)

And after the show, I also got Jaime and Vic's autographs on a separate piece of paper, which I got from one of the girls we had met. Mike didn't give out autographs after the show, because he did that earlier on, and I didn't get to get one from Tony before he went inside. Which was alright, because I already had it on my poster, but I did really want a photo with him. Too bad!

My weekend in England.

First of all I want to apologise - I wanted to film a video diary from the entire weekend instead of making a blogpost. But of course my voice decided to go nuts on Saturday, and I found it kinda embarrassing to run around and speak English to a camera. And when I decided I'd just speak Danish and put on subtitles, I found out that my shitty camera (which is so old school it need batteries) can't film properly in the dark.

So instead I'm just gonna tell you about it - shortly, because if I told every little detail (believe me, I remember everything, almost down to the exact minute), it'd be the longest blog post ever seen anywhere on the internet. 

Well, Thursday Cille and I arrived at London Gatwick airport around 10pm English time. We walked around and tried to get a hold of some stuff like a place where Cille could shower and the place where we had to pick up our train tickets. We charged our phones, got a tiny bit to eat and then found some more or less comfortable chairs to sleep on. Well, at least they had pillows. For some reason there was (more or less) silent all night, except for around 4am, where everyone's flight suddenly left. Weird.

We didn't get much sleep and got up around 5.30 Friday morning. Costa was open 24/7, so we went in to get some coffee, before we got ready for the day. We arrived at KoKo around 10am and there weren't many in the queue in front of us. Around 30 minutes later, two other Danes named Sofie and Sarah arrived and we sat together. We had so much fun in the queue! We saw Vic, Mike and Jaime a few times, but Tony didn't show up until an hour before the doors opened, and rarely anyone noticed him.
We also got to meet the sweet Katrina, who's one of our friends from Essex. It was nice to finally meet her!

Between the two support bands Hands Like Houses and Woe, Is Me, the crowd went absolutely crazy. Yeah, it sounds weird that they did so between the bands, but they really did. I went out in the side, where there was a bit more room, and then I had to take care of a kid who had hit his head and was shaking and could barely breathe. I sat with him for half an hour, I think.
After that I went up to the balcony and saw the entire Pierce The Veil show from up there with Katrina. It was weird, but nice to see a band perform from such a distance. 

I apologise for poor quality, but I only have poor quality pics from Friday.

After the show they did give out autographs, but neither me nor Cille got any, because they put up a fence, and rarely anyone got anything. So instead we yelled at them in Spanish and maybe even threw a bad word or two after them, oops.
We were supposed to sleep at London Paddington train station, but we were so unbelievably tired, that we didn't care about money and spent £30 each to sleep in the same room as our Danish friends for just one night. 

Early in the morning, Saturday, we got up and took of to get our luggage back, before we took the train for Bristol. We arrived around 10.15 and met someone at the station who were also at the show in London. So we pretty much spent most of the day talking to them, sitting in queue outside The Fleece, and they were really sweet! They offered to put our luggage in their hostel room, because we had nowhere to put it, since our friend was at the library all day, studying for his exam.

This time it was so much more chill, and the band even got to walk back and forth between the venue without much happening. Except when Vic did so, because he's apparently more popular than the others. The girls surrounded him so all I could see was his extremely small feet, haha! And he was extremely small - not much taller than me, actually (I'm about 5'4). We got pictures with Mike, because he was nice, and he said that they'd love to come to Denmark (but unfortunately it probably won't happen anytime soon, since they don't have enough fans here). 

The show was so much more intimate than the one at KoKo, because there were only like 300 people. Of course the crowd went nuts, but I didn't have to move away and I was able to breathe properly most of the time. Vic did say a lot of the same things as the night before (as everyone does at concerts), but he did interact with some of the fans on the first row, which was so nice.

After the show they all came out and gave autographs and took pictures. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture with anyone, except Mike, because he went out before the show. But I got to speak to all of them, and got a few autographs as well. One thing that made me really happy was that I got to say "feliz cumpleaños" (happy birthday in Spanish) to Jaime, whose birthday was the day before, at the London gig, but he didn't come out to talk, because he had a broken leg. But he said it was alright and he became so happy, when he heard someone speak Spanish to him. Like genuinely happy!

That evening we slept at our friend's place and we flew back to Denmark Sunday. I already miss it really badly, and I can't wait until next time I see those wonderful Sexicans again!

You'll get to see my autographs later, right now it's too dark to take proper pictures.
Ps. I call this blog post short??????

Soundtrack of my life.

Pierce The Veil ft. Kellin Quinn - King For A Day.

This song is seriously the soundtrack of my life these days. I heard it for the first time in Bristol where Cille played it for me and I quickly started to like it. I didn't really listen to the lyrics, because we always had music playing in the background when we were chilling in our room. But when I came back home I remembered the song (mostly because I miss Bristol like hell) and found it on YouTube, where I listened to it for a while before actually downloading it. I also read the lyrics for it somewhere on the internet, and I quickly fell completely in love with it.

I've played it 60 times on my iTunes since I downloaded it Tuesday last week and at least 100 times on YouTube and on my iPod. I keep hitting the repeat button when I listen to it, because it's just that awesome. It's one of those songs I can listen to again and again and just not grow tired of!

Kellin Quinn is from the band Sleeping With Sirens and even though I'm not a fan of that band, I actually really like Kellin's voice. Especially in this song. It just sounds so damn orgasmic in harmony with Vic's (lead singer of Pierce The Veil) voice. The lyrics are really awesome as well!

By the way, check out my review of Pierce The Veil's latest album on MiaMalene's blog!

Concerts in 2013.

Basically I'm already planning a bunch of concerts next year and all of them are before June. So I just wanted to make a little list of which concerts I'm planning to go to.

• Asking Alexandria, 25th of January, Amager Bio, Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Yellowcard, 11th of Feburary, Lille Vega, Copenhagen, Denmark (actually just going because of The Blackout).
• Pierce The Veil, 17th of May, O2 Academy Islington, London, England.
• Pierce The Veil, 18th of May, The Fleece, Bristol, England.

I don't think I'll be going to the BVB concert in Denmark, because it's too expensive and I've already seen them once. And they're not that important to me anymore. 

But I'm looking forward to see what The Dead Lay Waiting will come up with, since Steve promised that they'd come back to Denmark in early 2013!
Drew and Kier from Fearless Vampire Killers also said that they'd do their best to come to Denmark next year. So I'm probably going to even more concerts than this!

I only had 4 big concerts this year, and knowing I'm already planning 4 next year is awesome, because I'm pretty sure there are more to come. I just love going to concerts!